Live Laugh Levi

Chapter Eight

His house was quiet and dark. I almost forgot what it looked like. It was clean for the most part except for the small pile of dishes in the sink. The décor was the same farm theme with small chicken and other farm animal figurines, and farm scene artwork. His mom had a thing with that kind of stuff. I remembered I would always get her a different farm animal every Christmas. I found the collection still lined up on the bay window with the plants, a tiny layer of dust covering each animal.

"You remember them?" Levi asked turning on the floor lamp.

"Yeah, I do. I'm kinda surprised they are still in the same place," I added, picking up a baby pig in a mud bath in a barrel.

"Dad refused to change anything when she passed away. My brothers insisted on removing her clothes and other stuff but my dad insisted that he would take care of it. He eventually did but I guess change is hard for him."

"Do you miss her?" I asked.

"Sometimes, it's kind of hard to miss someone that you can barely remember, it's been 8 years,"

"I'm sorry," I offered.

"It's fine,"

We went into his room which was different. I used to sneak into his house at night and we would lie in his bed talking about anything and everything. Then we got caught by his father one night and he started to push Levi around and Levi yelled at me to get out. I don't think my 12 year old legs ran that fast. That's when he started to climb the tree and my balcony and we would sit and talk.

"Here," He handed me a pair of basketball shorts and a hoodie to wear. "You can take a shower,"

I took the clothes and he left his room and left me alone. For a moment I took a second to touch all the things on his dresser. I walked into his bathroom. I was pleasantly surprised. I expected it to be untidy since it was a teenage boy's bathroom, but there were towels folded on the counter, it was clean. I turned on the faucet and took a hot shower.

I wrapped the white towel around me and looked into the mirror. My face was clean, my hair washed, I was a brand new me. I walked into his room and I let my fingers brush against his medals and cd's that littered his dresser. I looked at his desk and the pictures that were pinned up by thumbtacks. There was a picture of me on his back, it was the first day of senior year we looked so happy. Then next to it was the picture from our first day of elementary school. We were at my house on the front porch steps, his mother by his side and my mother on mine, and we held hands and laughed. I could remember it like it was yesterday.

"Oh- I'm sorry," Levi said looking at the ground embarrassed.

"Remember this day?" I pointed to the picture of our first day of school. He walked to his desk and leaned and looked closer.

"How could I forget? I remember it like it was yesterday," he answered basically reading my mind. I could feel his breath on my neck. Goosebumps covered my skin.

"God, I can't believe this was 11 years ago," I agreed.

"I think I'll let you get dressed," Levi said looking at me for a moment before closing the door quietly behind him.

When I was alone, I slipped on his baggy shorts and pulled over his hoodie. They smelled of him, like the woods and musk. It was a school hoodie, one he wore quite often, and I was surprised that he had lent me this one. Levi was flipping through channels when I found him in the living room. I sat on the arm of the chair next to him.